Holding Onto The Crutch We Call Life

by Soaring

How We Say Goodbye

Late Evening - Trekking Through No Man(Other Than Anon)’s Land - Ponyville Central

The two were walking side-by-side. Close together.

“Isn’t that what you two are? Dating?”

“Dating?”

“Date—”

Anon gulped. The thought rang loudly in his head, echoing like he had just screamed the word ‘dating’ on the top of his lungs.

Mayor Mare. That mare… his employer, thought he was dating Starlight. Funny how the world worked, and how rent free the thought was in his head. He didn’t have any understanding as to why. He didn’t love Starlight, but the thought, the misconstrued nature of it all, and with it being so soon after his attempt at a confession smacked him square in the face with nothing but regret, biology, and futile wanting for someone who didn’t care and—

A hitch. A breath lodged deep. He cleared it, slowly, albeit with some hesitation, which sputtered a cough from his mouth.

“Are you okay, Anon?”

The mare who made him metaphorically shit himself in his mind, Starlight Glimmer, was looking up at him with a gaze so full of concern for him, so full of warmth that her eyes glistened in the night light. A slight smile graced her lips, and as she trotted beside him, his gaze gravitated to her neck, and then down her withers…

Anon nodded dumbly in her direction.

“Oh, good! Was worried Mayor Mare hypnotized you or something.”

The ridiculousness of that phrase brought Anon back to life, raising a brow at her. “You think she has some funky moon runes or something?”

“Moon runes, Anon?” A shrug earned fair and square made Starlight giggle. “You and your imagination. No, she doesn’t have any of those. She might have a watch somewhere in her desk though. Probably that broken silver watch she uses to spellbind innocent stallions to bend to her will.”

“Really?”

A stuttered laugh filled the air, followed by a snort. “O-Okay, if you believe that—snrrrkk—you’re either scarred for life, or gullible. While I can believe a little bit of gullible-ne-ess exists in that head of yours, it doesn’t mean you have to embrace it wholeheartedly, Anon.”

Anon shrugged and lowered his gaze. “Would make for an interesting memory, or a terrible picture in a yearbook.”

“Guess so,” Starlight replied, smiling at him. She bumped her body against his. “Soooo?”

“Sooo…?”

“Come on!” She did her little tappies like she was frustrated with the dirt underneath her while she walked. “You know what I’m talking about. I told you to ask her, didn’t I?”

“Mayor Mare?”

“Yes! Egh. Did she give you anything?”

“Why do you make my relationship problems sound like a drug deal, Starlight?”

She replied with a little side step dance thing with her hooves—must’ve been a stick in the path or something. “Drug… deals?”

Anon rolled his eyes. “Disregard.” She did the sidestep thing again, this time there not being a stick. A brow raised for the occasion. “New dance move?”

“Yes, the mare’s new groove.” She let out a giggle-snort and this time rubbed up against Anon’s right leg. “No, I wish. Dancing isn’t exactly the greatest skill of mine.”

A smile grew on his face as they continued to walk. It was hard to let it keep growing, knowing that he was nearly in lockstep with Starlight while being surrounded by several ponies, probably herds (he didn’t know how they walked, but they sure looked like a clown posse trying to do the stanky leg in sync). All those eyes tracing them like a copyrighted piece of art.

Man, Ponyville was definitely alive this evening. Not that it needed to be, it was a quaint town after all. A quaint town that made sure to make those who didn’t have someone less lonely (if they were aware of them).

“What’s your greatest skill then, Starlight?”

“Greatest skill? Other than magic?”

Anon let out a brief chuckle as the tilted head gave him diabetes, his heart strained. “Yes, other than magic.”

She hummed to herself. “Being a great friend.”

“Boring…”

The mocking cop out response made Anon groan in agony. Cheese with extra expired Cheeto dust. Even he could’ve done better than that. She could’ve said like ‘yeah making out with my best friend Trixie’ and he would’ve believed it. But no, she went ‘friendship’ on him like some prima-madonna trying to PG herself to musical hell. Egh. Gross.

“What? Being a great friend is key to a happy life!”

“You sound like you’re married.”

“I’m not! Trust me. I’ve kept my options open.”

Anon held a smirk behind his guise. He chose to roll his eyes and circle back to that friendship of hers. “Surprised you have. You haven’t shown me much on how friendship works with us.”

Starlight’s happy gaze slowly faltered in the light, her lips drew blank in a relaxed state. “You’re… right. I’m working on it with you, but… maybe I should choose a new one.” She tapped her chin momentarily before gasping. “I got it! My consideration of others!”

“Consideration of… others?”

“Yes. Ever since I’ve been here, I’ve improved on my ability to really consider others—” Anon almost jumped in but Starlight furrowed her brows at him, which made him reconsider his life choices. “—and I know what you’re going to say. Remember what I said? And my response to that is of course I did! But trust me, when a friend is in need, I’ll be there.”

“So your skill that you chose is ‘if you’re aware of an issue, you’re able to solve it’?”

“Exactly. Which is why I’m here with you now instead of with the other girls.”

“Because…?” Anon said, flipping his arm around in a circle.

“Because I know they’re going to be fine without me for a day. Besides, I had you on the schedule, and that means that I’m not taking you off the schedule unless you want to be off the schedule.”

She flipped out some random pad of paper. She shoved it toward his direction and it read ‘Anon and Starlight night out’ in fancy cursive. Whatever that meant. Anon wasn’t the one to debate, nor was he the kind to really scoff at Starlight so foul. Instead, he was apt to tell her thirteen reasons why he was going to interrogate her life choices, while judging her for not asking him and caring for him when it mattered. Whatever. Twilight could sulk and—wait… Twilight?

He blinked away his scattered-brain self and shifted gears. “Night out huh? Are we going to some club?”

“I wish.” Starlight frowned. “The only club in town is currently closed due to maintenance. Bet you twenty bits some pony got a bit too frisky in there with their herdmate and made quite a mess.”

“Yeah…”

Anon looked around. The sun was still out, but it was fading behind the horizon line, its orange glow lighting up the sky as the moon favored the world above. Meanwhile, in his brave new world, Anon saw in front of them a cafe. Recently built. Looked a bit like the Sugarcube Corner, but had a different entrance, and quite a plain presentation. A sign above the door dangled there in the slight wind. It said Lime’s Cafe in some etch-a-sketched writing, like it was carved in there by hoof.

“Welcome to Lime’s Cafe.”

“I assume the owner is named Lime?”

“Lime Ayds, Anon. They haven't updated the sign yet. Also she’s a nice mare,” Starlight began with a slight smile. He turned around and peered through the nearby storefront window. “She came back from Canterlot after, well, pursuing her career as a chef.”

“Did it pan out?”

Starlight blinked like a strobe gone wild. “Anon, you didn’t mean to say that.”

Anon tilted his head and then—oh— “I didn’t mean it like that.”

She let out a brief blow and sucked in some air. “Good, I was about to turn you into a leftover pile of magic, but since you didn’t mean it…” A smirk morphed on her muzzle. “I’ll let it slide.”

“Good,” Anon began, taking a brief sniff of the air. It smelled good, but he didn’t know what it was. Something fluffy for sure… “Even if her career didn't go so well, it sure smells like she knows how to cook something.”

Starlight smiled. “She’s a pretty good chef. Has some of the best hayfries in town.”

He spared a glance back at her. “Can she cook a mean steak?”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “Sorry, I don’t speak wrong.”

“Neither do I,” Anon replied, smirking. It earned him a little chuckle from Starlight, but nothing more, which made him assess his situation a bit more, his eyes peering back inside through the main storefront window. Inside, he saw rows of tables and chairs, and nothing but. No booths. No hanging light fixtures that were hanging way too low for anyone to deal with. There were a few of them hanging from above, surely, and even some candles too, from what he gathered, but nothing more. A few servers were strolling around with some magically lifting other ponies orders, while others simply chose the au naturel means of serving others up some grub: high kicks and hoping it sticks.

“Are you going to peer through the window or are we going to go inside and eat, Anon?”

Anon shook his head and then turned to Starlight. “Right… lead on.”

The door swung open.

Bbrrrnnnnggggg!

A bell rang as they walked in (she held the door for Anon, for some reason, so he scootched ever-so-slightly by her), alerting them to the staff. One came up to them and bowed, a smile gracing their blue cheeks.

“Hello! W-Welcome to Lime Ayds’s Cafe, where you’ll never feel self conscious while we pester you about getting pictures of our food!” For some reason, she smiled a bit more after she said that. “You may sit wherever you like and I will be right with you.”

Anon watched as the mare, her name tag resting on her little get-up (frilly and all) reading ‘Crest’ crudely drawn on it, walked toward the backroom, most likely to catch any other orders coming in. He sighed, and tapped Starlight on her withers.

“Huh?”

“You heard her, let’s go take a seat. Do you mind where we sit?”

Starlight blinked and gasped. She shook her head, which made Anon confused, only for her to do this rapid-fire blinking thing like she was a strobe light trying to recalibrate herself, and that alone made Anon reconsider what was going on in that little pony's head. She nodded dumbly at him and walked like she was in a trance, wide-eyed and probably seeing the sky fall in front of her, her cheeks red.

He just walked beside her, making sure she didn’t crash into a waitress or something. Would be funny, but also terrible, and he wasn’t a fan of making her day worse than his. So, he vouched for coverage, and he kept her close, his arm pulling her close to him. She squeaked (he thought, it sounded like a bird squawking instead), but she didn’t say anything else, only wordlessly tapping on a table nearby and stumbling into it.

Anon fell into the seat that Starlight found. It was a booth on the farside of the place. Secluded. Away from the window he peered through, and away from anypony else.

Great...

Starlight twiddled with her forehooves, while sparing a glance or two at Anon, who just observed it all, wondering if she was okay or completely embarrassed at her little ‘deer in headlights’ zombie walk through the cafe.

“All good?” Anon asked with a bit of a drone to his voice.

She sighed. “Sorry, for some reason, I remembered something and it just got me in this sort of mood.”

“Mood? You looked like you were seeing two of everything.”

A hardy-har escaped Starlight. “Yeah, basically. I’m glad we found a seat away from everypony though. Ponies usually don’t come over here unless this place is full, and well, it's pretty much quiet now that it's getting late...”

Her voice trailed off, and she looked at him again with some sort of gaze. Like a starry-eyed one. What was going on here?

“Yeah…” he muttered, plucking a menu from the stack that was presented at the table. A bit strange the menu was sitting there, but hey, if the… a la carte was going to be already there, might as well snag a peek at it. And snag did Anon do, glaring over it and—

“The Borger? What in the spelling error am I looking at?”

Starlight tilted her head. “The Borger is pretty cool from what I remember. It is kinda small though.”

“Small?”

She nodded and put her hoof on the table. She then slid it up for what Anon believed was for him to look at. “See the inner part of my hoof?”

He did. It was small. “Yes—wait, you’re lying.”

“No,” Starlight announced with a smirk. “It’s smaller than that.”

“Smaller than that?”

“Smaller than that.”

…

“Like how small—”

“Double.”

“Double?!”

Starlight hummed as she flicked open her menu. “Actually trip—”

“No. No!” Anon raised his voice as he read over the pr— “One hundred and forty-eight bits for that?!”

Her magic shimmered in the orange light. Oh, and her menu was upside down. Another hum too, emitted behind the menu. “You must have a misprint menu, Anon.”

“Oh thank god,” Anon began, wiping his brow. He set the menu aside and shoved it behind the others in the metal carrier. He grabbed another one and sighed. “Was about to consider this a highway robbery and—”

“It’s actually four hundred and eighty bits.”

Anon’s brow twitched. So did his face… and his chest—his heart was telling him to do a nine hundred off an off-ramp, while his mind was seeing four Starlight Glimmers.

He didn’t know which option was worse. The one with the hearts for eyes, or the one that looked like she was about to commit that friendship fraud she was hinting at. Also why was there one that was wearing a question mark on her face?

“Anon, are you—”

“Starlight, tell me, do you like banging your head against a desk for twenty hours?”

“No…” she said slowly. Her brow raised farther than Anon thought. “Why are you asking that?”

Anon frowned. “Nevermind. You’re paying, right?”

“Yeah,” Starlight said. “I asked you to come here, it’s only fair.”

“Yeah—wait, really?”

She nodded and took a deep breath. “I wanted to make sure you were treated right. Order anything you’d like.”

“Well with how you described the portion of whatever the Borger is, I’m worried that I’m going to be more hungry afterwards.”

A laugh graced his ears. It was fluttery, yet it was strange. Was it strange that he wanted to hear it again, even if it was going to shatter his ears like a Church window pane crashing into a million pieces?

Probably. Maybe.

He smiled as Starlight spoke and—wait, she was talking right now! Why was he imagining a Church window glass breaking? And oh, now he saw why. That smirk. It was on her muzzle, loud and proud. Oh whatever she was saying he was going to most certainly hate and— “Anyway, what did you and Mayor Mare do today?”

“The usual," Anon droned. "Work, work, and more work. Oh, and something about punting some goofball investor to the moon because he was wanting to change Ponyville’s identity, and Mayor Mare and I weren’t having any of his nonsense.”

“Oh?” she said, her tone rising through the word. She set the menu aside with her magic, and leaned forward. “Tell me more.”

Anon felt a sudden shift in her voice. Maybe he was imagining it. Either that or she was really interested in how the city made land agreements.

Whatever. Talk about drama, horses, and WD40. The best thing in the world. Anything that’ll distract him from portion sizes, the misspelling of the word ‘aids’, and bad decisions. Anything is better than the last one. Anything.

“He was some big shot investor out by Vanhoover. Said getting Ponyville to the next step of commercial dom was to literally uproot our grassroots by creating some extravagant part over by the schoolhouse—”

“You mean the open land that’s been there since Twilight got here?”

“Actually it’s been there for even longer but yes.”

Starlight blinked.

“Seriously?”

“Yep.”

She blinked again.

“Like, he wasn’t drunk when he walked in?”

“No. Dead serious.”

She licked her lips. And of course, she blinked again.

“You’re lying.”

“Nope. I can tell you which train he left on and we can see if the conductor knows the fella. Probably does.”

“No, no. Speaking is not an option. We need action, like giving him friendship lessons and—”

Anon placed his hand firmly on the table. “I don’t need you to guise friendship lessons as a way to push his muzzle in, Starlight. I also don't need you catching an assault charge because someone with pockets decided to unload them onto a couple unwilling participants.”

“Unwilling?”

Her raised brow made Anon sigh. “Wrong word choice. We were very willing to hear what he had to say. We just didn’t like his idea.”

"What was his idea?"

Anon snorted. "Some abridged version of a shopping center back in my world. It had all these amenities that didn't make sense, and for some reason, it had cloud vapor being sold as cotton candy? I don't know how that would work, but here this stallion trying to sell us it like it was the next big thing for Ponyville."

Starlight's brows furrowed, not out of anger, but out of concern. "You... sure that guy was not trying to pitch for that in Cloudsdale?"

"He sorta did, and then had the brillant idea of building it in Ponyville to 'attract more pegasi' to move here."

Anon saw the end of Starlight's muzzle twitch. "Uh... why?"

"If I knew, Starlight, I would tell you. Unfortunately, I'm not as dumb as him. Unless you think it's my mission to tell others about how dumb I am."

"Really?"

Anon let out a rather loud belly laugh. "N-No! Are... you kidding?"

She shook her head.

That made him laugh even louder. So loud, that he started seeing colors. Like, many of them, including the ones in the Crayola boxes back home. It took him a few moments to calm down, mostly because he was gasping for air and now Starlight was standing on her hind legs to peer over the booth, but then he settled down, picking himself off his seat to sit more upright. Anon definitely wasn't expecting to laugh that loudly about the situation.

"S-Sorry, I wasn't expecting to... to do that."

"No problem," Starlight said. She scooted a little closer somehow, even if it was only a smidge. "I'm just happy that you're happy."

That... made him conflicted. She sounded thoughtful but...

The lingering noise in Anon's ears made him wonder if there was some forced concern there.

He shrugged. "Happiness can be contagious, just like sneezing."

As if on queue, Starlight's eyes widened, and she gasped, wincing as she tried to hold back whatever was about to happen to her. Heck, even her horn was charging up and—

"Achoo."

The magic in her horn sparked, and then there was nothing. A dud in magic, like a malfunctioning hand grenade that uttered a soft 'achoo' instead of shrapnel of death.

"Sorry about that, Anon," Starlight replied, giggling to herself like the little giggle-monster she had become. "It's like you saying it became a reality!"

"Must be my own form of magic," he said, wiggling his brows in tandem.

"Yeah, your magic."

A punctuated eye roll told Anon otherwise. "Only learned from the best!"

"Twilight?"

"No, you. Goofball."

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not."

"Yeah, you are. It was totally Twilight and not—"

"Yeah, it was totally Twilight."

They chuckled and giggled at their table, much to the chagrin of ponies around them. Not that it mattered. They were all alone in their own little corner, only seeing a couple of servers run by their island of man and pone.

At least he had someone to share his loneliness with.

...

“Anything else happen today?” Starlight asked, her head tilted to her right, while her right ear flopped like a dog’s ear, but twitched like an antenna finding a signal.

Anon hummed a deep, low hum that even shocked himself with how low it was. And then he stopped and tried to smile.

All he could muster was an anguished moan.

Starlight gasped. “Anon? Are you okay?”

"Yes...”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded and held his head up high. What was with him? Thinking of being alone when he had someone with her? Was that okay to think? Or was he beating himself up for no reason?

It was probably the latter. It totally was, but...

She tilted her head. “You know, I am wanting to be your friend."

“I know—”

“And if you’re about to say anything about yourself in a negative light, I will—”

"You will what?"

"I'll help you get through it, like any good friend would."

She said those words.

And all he could think about was everything that led up to this point. How she helped comfort him about being simply himself. How it didn't matter what Twilight and others like her would think.

But still, something felt off and—

"And what if I was thinking negatively about myself?"

She held a hoof out from across the table and smiled. "I'm here to help, Anon. I'm here."

Guess ponies could feel that way, huh? That way where things don't make sense. Where up is down and down is up? That place, although not that place either. Anon knew that other place, where Discord roamed. And no, it's not Fluttershy's cottage, although he tried sprucing it up that one time.

No, it was elsewhere. Where Discord wouldn't go to.

"I am."

Those little words left his mouth before he could take them back, so he watched her. He watched her good.

She was frozen, luckily still in her seat. Her mouth was somewhat stuck in place, not agape but just slightly ajar, while her ears splayed slightly against her head. He wanted to run over and hug her, but he kept himself contained, keeping himself somewhat grounded to the seat as he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable. And her being uncomfortable would make him uncomfortable, and then there would be this uncomfortable wedge between them, and then the food would arrive and she would leave just like Twilight did and then he would be stuck paying for everything... again.

He pursed his upper lip.

“Only just a thought? Nothing more?”

Anon hung his head but tried to bob his head to show something of reassurance. She at least deserved that.

"And it's nothing too serious, right? Like... l-like you're not thinking about..."

"Maybe."

The whimper he heard afterwards, a really muffled one, urked him. It urked him so much that he looked back up at her, to gauge her reaction.

That was a mistake.

She was back in her seat. She was leaning back now, a frown sporting her muzzle, while a glistening of a tear matted her cheek as it had tried to race down that left cheek of hers. “I wouldn't want you to feel that way, Anon. Not one bit."

Silence. He wanted to say something, but his thoughts were lodged in his throat. Instead, that quiet perforated the room and the room next door (somehow). Anon only heard the door chime again, although the squeakiness of it appeared and he was suddenly thinking about his front door again and how it was squeaky too, and it needed WD40, just like this one did.

And then he looked at Starlight.

And she looked at him.

And he felt his throat finally clear up and—

“Hello, am I interrupting something?”

The nametag came into view, then her face, and then her confusion.

Starlight looked away from him and was the first to react, clearing her throat as she shifted on her side of the booth. “No. W-We’re… we’re ready, right?”

Anon nodded and nearly choked on his own saliva, but caught himself by adjusting his attire. “R-Right. We're ready to order.”

“Okay, and what would you two like?”

---

Nighttime - Just Outside Lime Ayds’ Cafe

The rest of the cafe visit was…

Anon frowned. Starlight was still with him, thankfully. She hadn’t left, despite what he had even said. He should've not went down that route, it made her worried and well, he's made Starlight worried enough for two days, let alone one. He didn't need to worry her with his negativity. His life. His thoughts.

What he had entertained…

He didn’t want to hear them. Not again. Those words. He was already ahead of them.

…

Yet they still lingered, didn’t they?

After Crest took their orders (and reminded them to take pictures of the food), conversation was amiss. They both looked elsewhere. And then the food came, and they ate in relative silence. A few bits of conversation here, like when Starlight asked what Anon thought, and Anon thought it belonged in the trash.

That at least made the light above them glow a bit brighter (did someone screw in this lightbulb or what?).

After all that food talk, nothing else was said. She was probably afraid to bring it up again, and he was too worried about what she’d say if he tried to change the topic. Maybe that’s what she wanted though, or maybe he was just going to give her more whiplash than earlier. You don’t hear every day that your new friend you’re trying to be friends with is dealing with thoughts of—

He swallowed that one up. He wasn’t going to say it. It wasn’t needed. She was still here, after all.

She was walking next to him. They were already outside the cafe, and were now walking aimlessly in Ponyville. It was interesting to say the least, until someone decided to walk toward them. For some reason, Starlight would scoot right in front, shielding Anon from the mare or stallion, and then she'd growl at them like they just stepped on her hoof and she was angry about it. Maybe that whole conversation in the cafe had an after effect, and now she was protecting him. Pitying him.

Like a—

No, no. That's not her intention. He knew it. It was just them being ponies. Mares particularly. Those instincts being so active. It confused him, like, what if that pony she nearly zapped to dust wanted to just say, 'hi'? Was that a crime here when a mare was with someone they deemed important that you weren't able to talk to them?

"Aren't you dat—"

Anon sighed. He really wanted to purchase an ejector seat just to put Mayor Mare on it and see how far she flew. That's what she deserved for implanting this in his head. What a silly little—

“Anon.”

Firm. A one word directive. He looked at her. “Yeah, Starlight?”

"I was trying to get your attention. Are you okay?"

"Yeah?" Anon answered with a raised brow. "Sorry, got distracted."

"By me?"

"No. Worse."

"Was it the cafe?"

He shook his head.

"Are you sure? If it is, I’m sorry that the cafe was a bit…”

“Overpriced?”

She chuckled, airly, for a moment. “That and a bit… not what you expected.”

He waved her off with his hand that wasn’t gravitating towards his door. “It’s alright. It’s my fault anyway and—”

“Nope. I’m not playing the fault game with you. I should’ve just not pried.”

Anon kept his mouth shut. He wasn’t going to rebut that. Not worth the fault game, like she said.

Starlight hung her head. “I’m sorry about... everything.”

“Don’t be. If we’re not going to play the fault game, then just promise me this.”

“Okay..."

“Hang out with me tomorrow.”

“Sure, and wait, you want to meet up again?”

Anon nodded. “You want that title, right?”

Starlight sniffled. “Y-Yeah.” She rubbed the front of her muzzle with a hoof. “I do.”

“Good. Glad you’re okay with my negativity.”

“I'm not okay with your negativity you have for yourself, Anon. I’m just willing to tolerate those thoughts so I can… hopefully, get them away from you someday.”

“Through the power of friendship huh?”

A laugh spurred out of her, followed by a hoof pointing directly at his chest. “And you said it was boring!” She playfully shoved Anon in the side of his waist.

He laughed and patted her head. “It is, but thanks for showing a glimpse of it being not so boring.”

She smiled. She smiled and it looked good on her. “Glad I could make you see the light." She snorted as she looked up. And then she whistled. “Looks like it's time for me to say goodnight, so I’ll make my leave."

"You sure? You don't want me to walk you back?"

She glanced back over at him, still holding that smile. “Yeah, I'm sure. We can save that for tomorrow. Gotta get that beauty sleep otherwise I'll look like I've seen Tartarus in four dimensions." She giggled behind her hoof, before turning to leave. "See you tomorrow, Anon."

“G’night, Star—" He started, only to inhale all the air in the vicinity with one tenacious gulp. "Wait! When do you want to meet up tomorrow?"

Starlight turned around, humming in thought. "Hmm... how about we meet by the Sugarcube Corner after you're done with work?"

"Already thinking of getting more food tomorrow?"

She snorted. "No, it's just an easy place to recognize and—"

"I know," Anon said with a grin. "I'm just messing. I'll see you then."

Starlight smiled and waved a hoof at him. "See ya, Anon!"

He watched as she left, seeing her mane bob with her every step. She did spare a glance back over at him, seeing if he was still there or not. And he was. He was looking at her for a while. And then when she was out of sight. He looked up. He looked up and saw the sky. It looked nice. It looked really nice.

Did the moon always look this beautiful?

He didn't know. He didn't know as he turned around and walked on home.

Author's Note:

Song for this chapter:

Comments

[Foregrip Butterfly]

11968381
OMG

[Fox Jones]

Hmmm..

[f0st3r21]

Surrounded by creatures capable of love, yet forever cut off from it. How well would a pony survive this?

Earlier, Anon suggested that Twilight get advice from Cadence. Has he considered doing this himself … as long as she has a confidentiality policy? Idk. Might be worth the postage. Unless she sends back something like, “sorry, I don’t do human… or my sister-in-law’s rejects.” That would be a kick to the head.

I don’t think Lime will be in business in Ponyville very long. It’s not exactly a 400 bit/ plate type of town.

I hope Starlight gives it to Twilight with both barrels at some point. Or maybe it’d be better to let her eat silence? Just forever to wonder.

[Danger Noodle]

Everything about his day felt staged. Like them ponies were going in over the top to make him feel wanted? Definitely not in malice, but certainly outside the norm?

Did Starlight try to use magic to fix the situation, again?

[Negativity enjoyer]

Anon fell into the seat that Starlight found. It was a booth on the farside of the place. Secluded. Away from the window he peered through, and away from anypony else.

If i didnt knew any better i would think she doesnt want to be seen with anon = }

Sorry starlight but i don't trust You anymore.

[Markos-Estrian]

Speaking from experience the best solution is... talking it the f out. Granted, it's still raw. But, still. Talk it out.